The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

As I mentioned in my review of All American Boys, I haven’t read many books before that one that truly dealt with racism and how that affects everyday real life. This is my second book that I had to read that deals with racism and real life, and this was something that is still hard for me to wrap my head around a little.

Starr Carter has struck an uneasy balance in her world. She lives in a poor black neighborhood, but she goes to a nearly white private school about an hour away. She is Starr Carter, daughter to “Big Mav” in her neighborhood who everyone knows is a former gang member of the biggest gang in the area. At her private school, she is Starr Carter, automatically cool because she is one of the few black kids at her school. She lives as two very different people, being careful that neither of her two lives overlap and spill over into each other. All her caution though is thrown out the window the night her best friend from her neighborhood is killed in an officer shooting.

Starr is the only one to have seen what happened the night Khalil was killed, and now she is struggling with what she should do. Should she go forward and tell the detectives what she saw that night, about the officer shooting Khalil? Or should she stay quiet and hope that every works out for the best? Either way, her life in her neighborhood starts to leak over into her life at school when people find out that Khalil grew up in her neighborhood, and that Starr may have even known him. Starr can’t figure out who she should be when things start to get even worse for her. She is called forward to testify, to tell the truth of what happened that night, but even though she does what she’s told is the right thing to do, things don’t go the way they should have.

As with all things in life, there is prejudice and bias in all that you will do. There is social injustice based on the color of one’s skin, where you live, what you do, and who your family is. And for some people, there is more prejudice aimed at them, whether they want it or not for reasons that are not their own.

What books have you read that have hit you where it hurts? Have opened your eyes to what’s happening, even if it’s not happening to you? Comment below and let me know!